Etowah Mounds · Photo: Kåre Thor Olsen · CC BY-SA 3.0At 2.7%, unemployment in Cartersville is lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 26 minutes each way (Georgia 28, U.S. 26). The two grades for Cartersville are B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in five work in Cartersville; the top destination outside it is Atlanta (5%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Cartersville
Cartersville draws workers from far and wide
The 18,084 jobs in Cartersville are filled from a wide area. Cartersville’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 79% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
No single place dominates Cartersville’s commute
The biggest draw, Atlanta, gets only 5% of working residents, and 61% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Cartersville residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Cartersville is where the jobs are
Cartersville has 18,084 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Cartersville’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cartersville is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #65 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Cartersville’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (12.4%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cartersville could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Commuting in to Cartersville: where workers come from
Where Cartersville clocks in
5% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
A workday in Cartersville: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 8,606 residents head out to work, 1,997 work right here, and 16,087 people come in from elsewhere.
About 33,000 people are in Cartersville on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
In Cartersville, 29% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
18,084 jobs are based in Cartersville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cartersville, 2013 → 2023: 15,444 → 18,084. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cartersville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Cartersville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cartersville workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,691 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The distance from Cartersville to work
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Cartersville start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cartersville is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #176 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Georgia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,024 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.3% of Cartersville households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cartersville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Cartersville ranks: 813th of 1,516 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Holly Springs GA | 20,261 | $114K | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Decatur GA | 25,276 | $139K | 6.2% | 4.3% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 369 | Braselton GA | 18,496 | $121K | 6.2% | 3.4% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 811 | Woodlawn VA | 21,194 | $92K | 10.6% | 5.7% | 1% | B |
| 812 | West St. Paul MN | 21,950 | $68K | 8.9% | 4.5% | 8% | B |
| 813 | Cartersville GA | 25,349 | $84K | 12.4% | 2.7% | 19% | B |
| 814 | Center Township IN | 20,019 | $65K | 8.0% | 3.4% | 29% | B |
| 815 | Mustang OK | 24,571 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cartersville, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work in the towns next to Cartersville
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cartersville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartersville | – | B | C+ | 26 min | $84,437 |
| Emerson | under 2% | B− | B− | 29 min | $75,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cartersville’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cartersville: questions
What is the median household income in Cartersville?
$84,437 (±$10,205) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cartersville?
12.4%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cartersville?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cartersville work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (5%, 35 mi), Marietta (3%, 21 mi), Rome (2%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cartersville walkable?
Cartersville is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cartersville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cartersville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cartersville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.